


Bellamort Analysis

by TheBlueDahlia99



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Analysis, Bellamort, Canon Compliant, Canon Het Relationship, Canon Relationships, Character Analysis, Death Eaters, F/M, God Complex, Meta, Villains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25504810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlueDahlia99/pseuds/TheBlueDahlia99
Summary: This is my analysis of the canon Harry Potter ship Bellamort. It explains what their feelings are for each other, why they feel that towards each other, why each other, and assesses all of their canon moments. I tried to include everything I could remember although I suspect I might have missed something still, considering the incredibly complex nature of the relationship. Nevertheless, I am sure I have included every important point in this. Meta.
Relationships: Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Voldemort
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Bellamort Analysis

First of all, I would like to clarify the misconception regarding his incapability to love. Voldemort wasn't supposedly incapable of love because of the love potion. That's not in the books and Rowling has denied it. People just twist her words to simplify it for them and unfortunately it has somehow become so popular that most people think it's canon. He was incapable of love because he never got it and he was inherently dark. Rowling said he would have been fine if he had been loved by his mother and she had lived.

Here is her direct quote:

> 'It was a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union – but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him.'

Voldemort would have been different if he had got love as a child but all he got was abuse. The orphanage was so traumatic for him, scarred him so much, that we saw in the DH chapter where he's going to kill Harry that he still has not let go of it. Even after becoming Lord Voldemort and half a century later, he still remembers it as though it was yesterday. The orphanage was what shaped his personality into what we see in the books and made him what he was.

Since he didn't get any love in his childhood and he was already darkly inclined, his mind was warped as soon as he grew cognizant. The people in the orphanage only aggravated it by calling him mad, bullying, and abusing him. I'm sure there was physical abuse too. He learnt to defend himself in any way he could, especially because he had special powers. He learnt to hate people, to prove to them who he actually was and how wrong they were to treat him, HIM, like that. He never got any love, so he started telling himself as he grew up that it is weak and he is above the need for it. Solitude makes him unique, superior to other, weak humans. Still, the innate desire for it and companionship lingered somewhere in the back of his mind but he did not bring it forth until Bellatrix. He was already at least in his 40s then since Bella was 25 years younger than him.

He could not feel true, sacrificial love, the one Dumbledore promotes (but ironically never felt himself). Love is supposed to be selfless, sacrificial, and unadulterated. That's the gist but there can be many things on the side. His feelings for her were not black-and-white. He didn't love her, because he did not sacrificially and selflessly care for her or putting her above everything else. The quintessence of true love, according to Rowling, is maternal love and because it fits all standards. That's why it's so exalted in the series. That's what Lily felt for Harry. What Harry felt when he sacrificed himself for the 'good' of the Wizarding World. That's what the heroes felt. Voldemort did not feel that, but he wasn't apathetic towards her either.

Dumbledore only knew Voldemort till age 30 and mostly till age 19, and his account of him was very reductive and one-dimensional. It should be common sense that a brilliant 70 years old cannot be unravelled completely in such a short amount of time to a teenager with the only sources being speculation and memories from people not even close to him. It was not the end of it nor the word of God and can be wrong. Voldemort's own actions matter more than Dumbledore's words. Even then, Dumbledore more or less proved that Voldemort cared for Bella because many things he said about Voldemort were correct but Bella was the one exception. The problem is people don't think enough. He didn't know about her true status. Voldemort wanted to be above human (but he wasn't and his death symbolises that) and Bellatrix was the most humanising thing for him, his greatest pressure point, which isn't something he would like for everyone to know, especially his archenemy. Voldemort was extremely powerful and intelligent, so I don't think that Dumbledore was the only one who used deception tactics with him and succeeded. He did too, and this was one of them. This is proven by the fact that he didn't even suspect she had a Horcrux. Lucius was given one to smuggle it to Hogwarts under Voldemort's supervision but Bella was given the Cup for the sole purpose of protecting it because he trusted her. Even if he did known (or had known) there is no reason or chance that he would tell Harry about it. There is no way he would humanise Voldemort to Harry like that. He was a Machiavelian man and he needed to enkindle the desire in Harry to defeat. Harry's only purpose, for Dumbledore, was defeating Voldemort.

Dumbledore himself said Voldemort grew closer to Hogwarts than any human because he found acceptance and home there. What this means is no worthy human had ever accepted him and also implies that he had the capability to care if he found the right person. Bellatrix was also the only human being who had ever understood him, accepted him despite knowing him, and loved him still and for it, even. All the others, Dumbledore, Mrs Cole, who wanted to change him or thought him misguided were the Anti-Bellatrix and he hated them. This is the first time he had ever got love and acceptance and felt comfortable and at home with a human, because he knew she would not judge him for it. He knew she would still be as obsessively, lovingly, beautifully devoted. And not just any other person, but an extremely powerful, capable, and intelligent witch par excellence! She bowed to no one but him and clearly it mattered to him. She made him feel at home and she was worthy, had all the qualities he admired, so he definitely grew to care for her.

I'm sure she was entirely unexpected to him but he saw himself in her. She was dark, beautiful, intelligent, ambitious, and powerful, but she was also an aristocrat and much less dark than him. She was what Voldemort would have been if he had been raised in a loving, privileged family. She was what Voldemort wanted to be for she was loved, Pureblood, and an aristocrat as well. He probably saw that and her potential and decided to take her under his wing, to make her his. His possession. He treasured her.

This was the first time in his life when he wasn't lonely. His father left his pregnant mother, his mother abandoned him when she died, leaving him in an orphanage. The orphanage matron and kids called him mad. He never had any friends until then. He must have wanted a family as a small child, and even later but only in his subconscious. His conversation with Harry in Goblet of Fire is strongly indicative of that and he himself admits to being sentimental. Isolation is painless until the first taste of warmth.

The gist is not that he cared for Hogwarts, it's that Hogwarts was the first and only place — that is, until Bellatrix — where he felt at home and found acceptance. It's him feeling at home that is the gist. It's very plausible psychologically. He was incapable of love for the reason that he got no love or acceptance, ever, from anyone and he would never have got were it not for Bellatrix. So, she was unexpected, the exception. He still didn't love her truly or sacrificially or purely because he wouldn't die for her (but he would certainly kill for her. He attempted) but he cared more than he did for anyone else because of that reason.

Here is the quote from Dumbledore:

> 'Firstly, and very importantly, Voldemort was, I believe, more attached to this school than he has ever been to a person. Hogwarts was where he had been the happiest; the first and only place he had felt at home.'

Replace Hogwarts with Bellatrix and that would sum up his feelings for her, although that would be very reductive for such a complex relationship as this.

Bella loved him mainly because he was her saviour, her mentor, and he nurtured her, accepted her darkness, encouraged her, and taught her how to channel it and she, too, felt at home with him. He allowed her to be who she was. He didn't use her, she loved doing what she did, she knew exactly what she was doing, and she wouldn't have it any other way. He simply allowed her to be who she was and is there anything more beautiful?

They were kindred spirits who had only ever found true acceptance and home with each other.

She was the only living creature that mattered to him and the only one he saw as more than just a tool. Hers was the only existence he truly acknowledged and he proved this when he did things for her that did not benefit him at all, and in one case even caused him harm (More on this later).

He was the happiest he had been in 14 years after she had returned, and no, it wasn't because of the rest of them. Only ten Death Eater escaped that night and I am sure he was doing well without them for most of his Death Eaters were out. Most of them would be wasted, I'm sure he knew that, and his reaction was that intense. In the next chapter, Harry focused on Bella, symbolising that she was the main cause of his ecstasy. I am sure there would be many other, fresh people to join him and those who were not liabilities with sullied reputation, so more useful.

He risked capture, made HIMSELF vulnerable to the enemy's possible attacks, and revealed himself to the Ministry, just so he could save her from going back to Azkaban.. And he didn't just grab her and disapparate, he first took the time to break the statue pinning her to the Ministry floor (the books say there was rubble there where Bellatrix had once been) and then took her away, right in front of the Ministry. The sole reason Fudge realised he was back was that he took his time to rescue Bellatrix which allowed them to start working against him and thwart his plans. Knowing Fudge, if he had not seen him with his very eyes, he would have said Dumbledore was only staging what Harry was doing to convince him that Voldemort was back. The only thing that proved to him that Voldemort was back was seeing his physical form with his own eyes. This allowed them to start working against him thwart his plans. He broke the statue that was pinning her to the Ministry floor right in front of so many Ministry workers, making himself vulnerable to any attacks they could have hurled at him, grabbed her, and disapparated. He revealed himself the moment they arrived so he clearly left for that purpose. He could have hidden himself, stayed inside Harry (because I seriously doubt Dumbledore's claims that Voldemort was feeling pain. There is nothing to suggest that and the only thing that Harry felt was the creature's coils loosening. Harry and Voldemort's connection always hurt Harry's scar and he was literally inside him then, so it definitely hurt Harry, and Voldemort was the one possessing Harry and using his body, not the other way round, so why would it hurt him? The reasoning of Lily's protection also doesn't work here because it's canon that close contact with Harry no longer hurt him after his rebirth. There is something off here), disapparated right from there. There were many options yet he chose to reveal himself for Bella and risked so much. He didn't even need to do it. It wasn't because of her importance as a Death Eater or usefulness because she wasn't assigned mission till the rest of the captured DEs were back. He could have freed her anyway with the others and if he had left without her, it would have been much to his benefit. She wouldn't have gone to Azkaban forever and he could have freed her anyway without risking anything but he chose to take the risk. Some say she was loyal but she could have been loyal in Azkaban. What he did was not, by any means, pragmatic. This was very imprudent from a strategic point of view, yet he, an inherently selfish man did it solely for her and it was the only selfless, even sacrificial, thing he ever did in the books. I mean, Dumbledore literally said that the death of a follower doesn't mean more to him than that of an enemy, yet he acted like this towards Bella and she wasn't even dying!He addressed her by her nickname (when he was angry at her, no less) which is an incredibly intimate thing to do and was clearly instinct. When he had possessed Potter and everyone thought he had decided to flee, she screamed his name because she wasn't expecting him to leave without her (and he did not) which indicates her trust in him, their intimacy, and that it is not unusual at all for him to help her like that. And she was expecting him to take her alongside him right after failing him.

Remember how she was talking about him to Snape?

> ‘He...lately we...I am asking you, Snape!’

> ‘He calls me his most loyal, his most faithful'

This is not how a mere servant speaks of their master or how someone talks about their boss. He calls her his most loyal, most faithful? How affectionate.

In the Death Eater meeting where he humiliates her, he tries to distract the rest of them from her constantly by mentioning the Malfoys and makes up to her for it before long (but not to the Malfoys). Many would argue it was manipulation but manipulation and concern are not necessarily mutually exclusive. This signifies the elements of abuse in the relationship despite his genuine concern, but what else would you expect from someone like Voldemort?

When Hermione became Bellatrix, she met Travers on the way to Gringotts and he appeared suspicious of her. What assuaged his suspicion was Hermione telling him that Voldemort had forgiven her. But was it not common knowledge that he did not forgive easily? Should it not have made him even more suspicious of her? Unless as a member of Voldemort's inner circle, he had at least some idea of the closeness between Bellatrix and Voldemort.

When his Horcrux was stolen from her vault, he killed the goblin first and waited till she had left the room to start killing the others. Clearly even in such a hysterical state he still wanted her to live.

In the chapter where Snape dies, it’s stated that Lucius was still bearing the marks of the punishment he had received for letting Harry escape from Malfoy Manor. One of his eyes remained close and puffy, yet in the chapter right after that one, it’s mentioned specifically that Bellatrix’s face was bloody from the battle but otherwise unscathed. Bellatrix and Lucius made almost the same mistakes, first in the Department of Mysteries, and she had extra blame there since she was the reason he had to show himself. Someone like him would, in hindsight, say it was impulse and then blame Bella for making him act like that which made him lose so much. and then Malfoy Manor, and Voldemort’s Horcrux was stolen from Bellatrix’s vault only a day before this yet Lucius was punished so severely that even months after the punishment, the scars remained but was Bella even punished at all apart from the house arrest? This was clearly for contrast purposes because what was the point of mentioning that Bella’s face was ‘otherwise unscathed’ if not this? What would she be unscathed from? The punishment, of course.

He kept her very close in the last Battle. Also, the films made Voldemort push Bella when she tried to help him but that's not what happened in the books and the fact that people accept it as canon makes my blood boil. In the books, he was clearly comforted by her presence because in the Forbidden Forest when she tries to help him up he refuses because he didn't want to appear human, she stays, defying him. Nobody else would have even dared to stay behind, let alone that but she defies him not once, but several times and yet he doesn't curse her or pushes her away even though he cursed Narcissa merely for pointing her out so clearly he was capable of it. The fact that she stayed at all when everyone else moved away from him the moment he woke up is very telling. She stands out because she is the only one who truly matters to him, not just among his followers but in the world, she was the only living creature he saw more than just a tool or a weapon like he did everyone else which is something he proved by doing things solely for her that not only didn't benefit him at all but were also risky and in one case entirely unfavourable. Bellatrix wasn't a fool and he was Lord Voldemort. The fact that she stayed proves that she was close to him and knew she would not face the consequences anyone else would if they were foolish enough to attempt this (and she didn't in the books). She must have understood that he needed the comfort which is also why he didn't object.

His reaction to her death, which was far more intense than any that has come before, even his reaction to Nagini's death paled and Nagini was literally his last Horcrux, his last chance for immortality, and it was purely for her. The difference (other than the Horcrux, which he must have known wasn’t coming back) was that Nagini was just a tool, the epitome of a tool, actually. His best tool but a tool regardless. Bella was much more than that.

He screamed, sent the best three duellists there (McGonagall, Kingsley, and Slughorn) hurtling through the air as though they were nothing, and tried to kill Molly.

He was in the middle of his own duel when he did that. Trying to kill Molly proved it wasn't for usefulness of something like that. He was amidst his own duel. He should have continued that. He would have gained nothing by killing Molly, it shouldn't have been a priority, he was fighting his own battle against the best three duellists there, yet he lashed out and tried to kill Molly. He had his own battle to win when he tried to kill Molly which would have achieved nothing for him and the sole purpose of that was avenging Bellatrix (amidst his own duel) which proves it went beyond mere usefulness. It wouldn't have been a priority if only usefulness was the reason. She was no longer useful once dead so what was the point of avenging her? Molly was inconsequential to him in every way and her living or dying shouldn't have affected him in any way, but he did it for Bellatrix, to avenge her. It was for her, not for him. Bella wasn't even his last ally. He wouldn't have lost that particular Battle without her and he had many other Death Eaters left and if he had won like he was sure he was going to, many others would have joined him. This also proves she was indispensable (if that already wasn't proven).

It also wasn't because he feared he would lose the battle. Voldemort would not put all his hope in one Death Eater, who was in the end a mere mortal, to win the war. He was too arrogant for that. He also thought Dumbledore and Harry were both dead so there was nobody there who he thought capable of defeating him. Bellatrix was only duelling Molly, Ginny, Hermione, and Luna and I'm fairly certain he had no reason to fear them. Also, Bella was only one follower and a mortal in the grand scheme of things and people dying in battle isn't unheard of. He wouldn't put all his hope to win on her. Her death, by no means, meant all was lost for him. He thought himself to be the greatest wizard of all times even without Horcruxes and he thought he had killed Dumbledore and Harry. He thought he had the Elder Wand and his raw power alone exceeded everyone else's. He could have killed everyone present there when he dealt with the best three in a single blow to avenge Bella. The Great Lord Voldemort was definitely not afraid of those ants when he had killed Albus Dumbledore himself, and so many other great witches and wizards. There is no way he feared he was losing. He told Harry himself.

He didn't even think he would lose when Harry revealed himself to be alive. It wasn't for him that he tried to avenge her, he would have gained nothing, it was for her. The only other reaction he had which can be compared to Bella's death was the loss of the Cup. It was when he realised that his Horcruxes were being targeted, that his immortality was at risk. If Voldemort, a man obsessed with immortality and one to whom the death of his own followers doesn't mean any more than that of the enemy, reacts to her death the same as he did to the realisation that soon, he might be a mere mortal amidst war, then it's very obvious how much she means to him. When his last Horcrux was destroyed, he just let out a scream that nobody could hear and he didn't even try to kill Neville. The books state that he did not kill unless he deemed it necessary and the fact that he saw it necessary to avenge Bella but not Nagini, his last chance for Immortality, despite being obsessed with immortality, says a great deal. He knew killing Neville wouldn't have brought his soul back, it was gone, but he also knew killing Molly wouldn't have brought Bella back, she was gone so no longer useful, yet he did it even though he would have accomplished nothing by it. He did it for her. It was sentimental. His magic also didn't explode for his own LAST Horcrux like it did for Bella. Make of this whatever you want.

And now, here is why it was sexual/romantic as well rather than just platonic or something like the only friend he ever had.

She was the only living creature he ever cared about. She was stunningly gorgeous, a Pureblood, a Black, she was in love with him, she spoke to him as if to a a lover, and he understood sexual desire. Voldemort showed his understanding of sexual desire in the books when he seemed to understand and even encourage Snape's 'lust'. What the locket Horcrux showed to Ronald Weasley was incredibly sexual and it wasn't just a kiss, it had very subtle and strong elements of sexuality that a person who cannot feel lust will not be able to think of. For instance, Hermione was wrapping around Harry like a snake. This is associated with sexuality. (I, for one, never pictured sex like that even though I knew what it was until I felt actual sexual desire myself. The snake thing comes into my mind itself when I feel desire. It is not deliberate). He was the only character to even mention sexuality. She spoke to him as if to a lover and he ‘flirted’ with her: 'No higher pleasure? That means a great deal, Bellatrix, from you'. Notice the sexual innuendo?

So, if he was fond of her and she was attractive and wanted to have sex with him, and he knew sexual desire, there is no way they did not have sex. Him being asexual or averse to sex has always been a headcanon with no canonical evidence (quite the contrary) so it's never a valid argument. The books are from Harry's perspective so Voldemort's sexuality was never mentioned EXPLICITLY (why would Harry care about Voldemort's sexuality?) but it's strongly implied that he was as sexual a being as any other.

And ultimately, they had a daughter.

Voldemort is an incredibly complex character. Dumbledore didn't explain even a quarter of who he was and this is the man who is as vague as possible about everything. Why would he be clear about this? Dumbledore and the fandom do such injustice to Voldemort's complexity, presenting him as a caricature that it is an abomination. He is a brilliantly written character, so complex and interesting, and people seem to think of him as inhuman which itself is very telling. He was human, albeit a damaged and broken one. His death symbolises that. Very few people truly understand him.

This is a very dark and complex relationship involving two of the darkest and most complex characters and it's certainly not for everyone but it's The One ship for me.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to express your opinion, and if you have anything to add, please do!


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